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Pic.: Nirmala Sundar Is
the need for security our greatest drive in life? I have reasons to believe it is. When I closely scrutinize almost all my activities – my work
and relationships being the most important of them – I am able to trace the
source of my drive rooted in this innate need to be secure! A couple of nights ago, I was travelling in a friend’s
car around the CST area. The illuminated buildings of CST – The British had baptized
them as ‘Victoria Terminus’ - and BMC HQ made me comment, “What an enduring
beauty!” My friend looked at me and said with his wicked smile, “Did
the British ever think, that they would have to leave behind this ‘beauty’ and
go back, one day?” The rest of the discussion centered around the subject:
Why are we so obsessed to build our empires? Well, like every other empire, the British, too, had
thought, that the Sun would never set on their empire; that they were sent by
God to rule the world for ever… But, in India, it took hardly two centuries for
the Sun…

Pic.: Nirmala Sundar Early
this morning, I called up my younger brother, Vivek, and expressed my concern.
Rather, I cautioned him! Vivek is a very affectionate, generous and soft-spoken
soul and surrounded by loads of friends, mostly non-Christians. He is married
to Gauri, a Maharashtrian Hindu, and they had both Church and Temple marriage ceremonies.
Ditto was the case of Melvin, my wife’s brother, and his wife Amrita, a
Maharashrtian Hindu. They celebrate at home both Hindu and Christian festivals…
and the beauty is: for them, their parents and children, the religion doesn't matter at all… It has never been an issue for so many years! Honestly, I find my two sisters-in-law, both Gauri (Vivek’s
wife) and Amrita (Melivn’s wife) to be the most wonderful, the most loving women
in this world. All our relatives love them… and, Vivek and Melvin, both, have
been accepted and loved immensely by all relatives of Gauri and Amrita… Their
respective children are growing up, now. Soon, a time w…

““Business may be
all about money, but the currency
that's traded inside every organization isrespect.” - Geoffrey
James In
life, we all have these options: Earn money but no respect; Earn respect but no money; Earn both… And, this last one… earn none! “It is a fast-life, sir,” last evening an ex-student of
mine, who now is into construction business, told me, “make money as fast as
you can, and forget about those old-fashioned ideals of ‘respect’.” He had more
to say, “Did you see the reaction of people while I was getting off my car?” Yes, I did see. “Wow! What a sexy car!” I did not have to tell it to this young-man, who wanted
to be ‘there’ fast. He hadn’t come to me to 'take' one more lesson from
his one-time teacher; he had come to ‘give’ his old-fashioned teacher what he
thought to be a very valuable lesson…“Look sir, first earn money and power…
then, think about respect.” Well, his teacher did not need this lesson, either. What my ex-student – young, fas…

There are a
hundred gloomy-and-scary stories about money, buried deep inside our mind – the
sub-conscious mind. These stories have come from a hundred different sources…
Yes, once we had believed in them… But, do we still? Here are some of these
stories… Say beliefs, if you wish:

Money is the root of all evils… You can’t make money in honest ways… Rich are crooks… Money spoils relationship… You don’t need money to be happy… Only some can make money… Making money is against our religion… Rich exploit poor… There is only so much we can earn… Money is not meant to be spent… Money doesn’t grow on trees… Only hard work brings money… Don’t befriend wealthy… I do not have what it takes to be rich… I was born in a hand-to-mouth family… So, who am I to dream
big? What if I lose my money… become bankrupt? What if people cheat me… trap me? What if I die leaving behind huge debt? Look at so-and-so’s life… Look what happened to him?

Pic.: Rajiv Sharma “If you look closely
at a tree you'll notice its knots and dead branches, just like our bodies.
What we learn is that beauty and imperfection go together
wonderfully.” Matthew Fox

Today morning,
the first thing I found myself saying in my mind was this: “I m not perfect… The people around me are not perfect… The
world is not perfect… The Life is not perfect…” I found myself saying this, over and over again… today. And then, I could feel a great deal of peace settling down in
my heart! I can trace the roots of, almost, all my inner unrest to the
same source: expecting me to be perfect… people around me to be perfect… this
world and life to be perfect. And, because they are not – and they can’t be,
won’t be – and, because I am unable to see or accept this reality, I keep
fighting my inner phantoms… Yes, almost, all my mental unrest comes from my
inability to let go this need in me to see everything run perfectly… Peace eludes us as long as we believe in this myth called ‘p…

Some years ago, one morning, I was in the
office of a Co-operative-bank manager. As
I was talking, a very fierce-looking man - with a huge built and army-mustache –
came in. “Sir, the fellow is sweating; scared to come up,” reported the man to
the manager. “Tell him,
manager is a nice man… doesn't have an army-mustache like you,” manager teased
the man, “Give him a soft-drink or coffee… and cajole him to come up. Don’t scare
him more.” By now, I knew
who the strong-man was, and why the other man was frightened to come up to the
bank manager… A few minutes
later, the strong-man came back, accompanied by a taxi-owner, who seemed to be in
his late fifties. The man stood there with his folded hands, and began to give reasons
for the default, narrating all his problems and, finally, the assurance. The manager made
him sit on one of the chairs, heard him gently… and, finally, explained to him about
his own limitations and duties. “I can understand your problems; but, my
…

Pic.: Rajiv Sharma “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had made this famous statement in
1933 in his first inaugural-address. I have, often, wondered: What has made
these words live so long! I, seriously, believe
that it was the timing. The gloom of depression had crippled, almost, every one…
Hope was dim, dreams had died… anxiety had made leaders and citizens, all, fear…
yes, fear about their future… “What will happen, tomorrow?” Against such a gloomy
backdrop, FDR, who had just been elected to head the greatest democracy in the
world, was, now, expected to do away the gloom… inspire the masses with hope,
reignite their dreams, fire their imagination… and, that’s what he did in his
maiden address after being voted to lead… He reminds his people: “We have
nothing to fear but fear itself.”

“I never felt comfortable with
myself, because I was never part of the majority. I always felt awkward and shy
and on the outside of the momentum of my friends'
lives.” ~Steven
Spielberg

“It
was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater, I am really very shy. That is
something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor,
you are meant to be an exhibitionist.” ~Nicole
Kidman Iam
very convinced that, some of our core personality-traits – shyness for one – do
not change, either with age or with our achievements, fame and success. Shy
people will, always, remain shy! There are only two approaches to deal with our shyness.
One, trying to get rid of it from us. Two, transmute it into something
beautiful… channelize it through some productive, positive outlets. From my own experience, I can convincingly say, that
trying to get rid of our shyness is like trying to catch our own shadows! Yes,
like a dog trying desperately to …

“Detachment
does not mean that you don’t own anything; It means
that nothing owns you.” -Anonymous Aweek
ago, one night, I had just returned home after a wedding reception. The food
was kingly - varieties galore… starters, mock-tails and cocktails, main course
of different regions, deserts of different kinds… even a dozen different mouth-fresheners…
Liquor flew down like a waterfall… and, when we left the venue, a lovely memento
was placed in our hands, too! Yes, like other guests over
there, I, too, came back, making the most of what was laid before me… But, by the time I walked into my
house, I was hungry again! Now, it was really strange! I had
helped myself with so much of variety, that I should have not touched food for
another week! But, here was my condition: I was feeling hungry even before I
was home!

Yesterday
was Maha Shiv Ratri. So many people had observed fast. Some of my friends and
neighbors had sent me thandai and
different varieties of ‘Prasad’... wh…

1977. I was still not out of college, then. Mrs. Indira Gandhi
was a Durga then, and her Congress was the Nazi, all powerful. The USSR was
something the US and her allies’ feared about… They called it the ‘Iron Curtain’,
the ‘Evil Empire'… There was NATO to deal with SATO. 'Made in USA' meant pride, a huge thing… Japan
was still standing outside the door… and, 'Made in China', no one thought, would,
one day, mean ‘sell-all-over-the-world’, and ‘even-a-beggar-can-afford’! IBM
was a Polestar; Mohammad Ali was the ‘Greatest’… West Indies and Clive Lloyd still
ruled Cricket, Brazil and Pele, football! There was a despot called Idi Amin, who
ruled a country called Uganda…They say, he was so mean, so heartless, that he
ate human flesh for his breakfast!... All that I heard of Reliance, then, was
an ad which said, ‘Only VIMAL’… I don’t hear about VIMAL anymore. Reliance is
everywhere, but! Was Kejriwal born, then? I don’t know…
But, I know, BJP wasn’t… The…

'Passionate about Life.'... That's how I see myself. For me, the term 'passion' has a special meaning. It is living life with its totality... With all its hues and confusions, with all its triumphs and defeats.
I consider myself as a little kid, still groping in the dark -- trying to find a way out of this great maze. Sometimes, I wonder: whether there is a way out at all? Whether the maze itself is the way?
Thus, as a kid awe-struck by this amazing mystery called LIFE, I have a lot to share with my fellow kids. I believe, it would be an exciting and fulfilling journey, each morning...
I am, indeed, looking forward to each dawn, with fresh eyes... And my fresh note to share...
Love,
GERALD D'CUNHA